Oxford Empty Bowls to return for 2026, accepting ceramic donations

Effort has raised more than $185K for local organizations over nearly 24 years

The Oxford Empty Bowls luncheon at the Oxford Community Arts Center (OCAC) will return this year for the 24th annual event to raise funds for local organizations that feed the hungry.

Each year since 2002, an organizing board has come together to plan the luncheon, at which guests purchase ceramic bowls and have a meal together.

Over the past two dozen years, event co-organizer Kourtney Spaulding said the luncheon has raised $185,855 to give to the Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS), the Talawanda School District’s pantries, St. Mary’s Church BackPack Program and other pantries around the city and on Miami University's campus.

Spaulding said this year’s goal for the Oxford Empty Bowls organizing board is to reach $200,000 in donations, which she believes is possible given previous years’ yields. Last year, she said the event raised $15,750 – of which $11,000 was donated to TOPSS, while the rest was given in Kroger gift cards to use to purchase food for public pantries.

The bowls are donated by local potters or made during the Bowl-a-Thon hosted at the pottery studio in Hiestand Hall in coordination with the Miami Ceramics Club each year. 

This fall’s bowl-a-thon was hosted on Sept. 26. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., guests threw and molded 200 bowls, and another 200 bowls were thrown earlier in the spring. These will be added to the bowls already donated from community members and leftovers from Cincinnati area Empty Bowls events to equal nearly 500 bowls gathered to date.

The clay and glaze for the bowl-a-thon, as well as some other supplies for the event, were provided through a Butler County Rural Community Connection Grant. 

Spaulding said the luncheon organizers usually receive around 1,000 bowls by the time of the event, and there’s always around 200 bowls left over to carry into the following year’s event. Spaulding said one of the event board members, local potter Rob Abowitz, typically donates around 100 bowls each year.

More recurring potters are listed on the Oxford Empty Bowls website. Spaulding said some resident assistants on campus or student clubs and organizations will also host community service events wherein they make and donate bowls for the luncheon.

Oxford Empty Bowls will also be accepting donations of bowls guests purchased at previous luncheons they no longer want to keep. Those bowls can be dropped off at You’re Fired! at 6 N. Beech St. Anyone may also paint and donate a bowl at You’re Fired! or bring any hand-thrown ceramic bowls they want to donate to You’re Fired! anytime before the luncheon.

This year’s luncheon will be at the OCAC at 10 S. College Ave. on Nov. 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is $15, which purchases a single bowl and a meal of soup, bread and desserts. Children under 10 may eat free, and veterans will receive a free bowl and meal courtesy of the Oxford Rotary Club.

Food is donated for the event every year by local restaurants and volunteers.

There will also be a silent auction featuring some larger bowls and wood-turned bowls from the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild. Bowl koozies will also be available for $5, made by Diane Wolfe exclusively from fabric purchased from Thread Up Oxford. 

Empty Bowls is an event hosted by communities around the globe that was started in 1990 by a Michigan art teacher named John Hartom as a creative way for his students to participate in a local food drive. Over the years, the event has raised millions of dollars for hunger relief.

“We, as a community, or depending on your privilege in life, have a full bowl often, and there are people in our community whose bowls are empty,” Spaulding said. “What can you be doing to fill their bowls? … We’re filling our own bowls in terms of making ourselves feel like we’re contributing something worthwhile in the community. We’re physically filling the bowls of community members who are in need in this way.”

As the need for food becomes greater, social service organizations like TOPSS are reporting becoming stretched, Spaulding said.

Spaulding said around 550 people attend the Oxford Empty Bowls luncheon each year, which is organized solely by community members and volunteers.

“It’s a wonderful community event to bring people together,” Spaulding said. “What I love about it is that everyone has a small hand in helping fund things … and so even if you only have $15, your $15 went to this bigger pot to help people, and it makes everyone feel good.”

“And soup in November is perfect,” she said.

Anyone wishing to donate food for the luncheon or bowls may contact OxfordEmptyBowls@gmail.com. Anyone interested in volunteering to work the luncheon may visit oxfordemptybowls.org and click the sign-up sheet.